Activated carbon as an inexpensive alternative for counter electrode in dye sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) have attracted a lot of attention from solar industries because of the low cost and high efficiency to convert energy from photo-to-electric. DSSCs mainly consist three parts, photoelectrodes (a dye-sensitized nanocrystalline semiconductor), electrolyte with redox couple and a counter-electrode. In this thesis report, a literature review was first provided to establish the background of my research. Then in the experimental section, activated carbons with KOH and microwave post-treatments were employed as counter electrodes for DSSCs. Finally, in the results and discussion section, the I-V, CV, and EIS measurement results confirm that the activated carbon counter electrode with KOH post-treatment showed higher power conversion efficiency than Pt counter electrode. This would provide a promising approach to lower the fabrication cost of DSSCs.